Gasps, tears as jury finds priest guilty

Published 11:31 am, Thursday, February 10, 2011

Photo: Ben Garver

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Gary Mercure, a Catholic priest from the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese, stands trial in Berkshre County Massachusetts on charges of raping and molesting two former altar boys in the 1980s. (AP Photo/The Berkshire Eagle, Ben Garver) less

Gary Mercure, a Catholic priest from the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese, stands trial in Berkshre County Massachusetts on charges of raping and molesting two former altar boys in the 1980s. (AP Photo/The ... more

Photo: Ben Garver

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Former priest Gary Mercure listens to testimony during his trial for sexually abusing two boys in the 1980s. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union)

Former priest Gary Mercure listens to testimony during his trial for sexually abusing two boys in the 1980s. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union)

Photo: SKIP DICKSTEIN

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Ex-priest Gary Mercure checks his watch during a break in his trial. He was convicted of sexual abusing two boys in the 1980s. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union)

Ex-priest Gary Mercure checks his watch during a break in his trial. He was convicted of sexual abusing two boys in the 1980s. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union)

Photo: SKIP DICKSTEIN

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Former priest Gary Mercure listens to testimony during his trial. Mercure was convicted Thursday of sexually abusing two boys in the 1980s. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union archive)

Former priest Gary Mercure listens to testimony during his trial. Mercure was convicted Thursday of sexually abusing two boys in the 1980s. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union archive)

Photo: SKIP DICKSTEIN

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Gary Mercure (Skip Dickstein / Times Union)

Gary Mercure (Skip Dickstein / Times Union)

Photo: SKIP DICKSTEIN

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Gary Mercure, the priest accused of raping two altar boys in the 1980s, is taken into custody in Berkshire County Superior Court by court officer is Paul Duma, Thursday, in Pittsfield, Mass. His pawyer says an appeal is planned. (AP Photo/The Berkshire Eagle, Ben Garver) less

Gary Mercure, the priest accused of raping two altar boys in the 1980s, is taken into custody in Berkshire County Superior Court by court officer is Paul Duma, Thursday, in Pittsfield, Mass. His pawyer says an ... more

Photo: Ben Garver

Gasps, tears as jury finds priest guilty

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- Gary Mercure, a Catholic priest with a long history of sexually assaulting young altar boys, forcibly raped two boys in Berkshire County in the 1980s, a jury decided Thursday.

Following the verdict, Mercure, who faces a prison sentence of 25 years to life, was handcuffed and turned to the courtroom crowd, raised his head to look around and broke into a broad smile. He nodded to his crying family in the back of the courtroom as he passed them and was led away to the Berkshire House of Detention. He did not speak.

Sentencing is set for Wednesday.

On the other side of the Berkshire County courtroom, a group of victims, some of whom offered disturbing testimony during the trial, and their families hugged and wept. They were later escorted by court security out of the building and did not want to comment to the press.

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After 21/2 hours of deliberation, the jury convicted the 62-year-old, who last served as a priest in Troy, of three counts of forcible rape and one count of indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of 14 for incidents that took place in 1986 and 1989. The boys were 10 and 12, respectively, when Mercure raped them in the back seat of his car when he took them on trips to Massachusetts.

It was a very emotional moment in the court and Mercure's relatives gasped when the guilty verdicts were read.

There were also many teary eyes in the jury box.

Five former altar boys at Our Lady of the Annunciation Church in Queensbury, including the two victims from the Massachusetts incidents, offered very detailed and shocking testimony about Mercure's sexual abuse and rape during the trial. Most told of repeated abuse when they were between the ages of ages of 8 and 16. The incidents happened in the altar boys' dressing room, in their homes when the priest visited and in the back seat of his car.

They also related stories of Mercure giving them wine after Mass, then taking them to the rectory and subjecting them to sexual abuse.

One juror, who ended up as an alternate, said in her mind it was the victims' emotional testimony that led to the quick conviction.

''This was very difficult and the hardest thing I ever had to do,'' said the Berkshire County woman who did not want her name to be used. ''As far as I'm concerned what ever sentence he gets multiplied by 100 would not be enough.''

Defense attorney Michael O. Jennings suggested throughout the five-day trial that the victims were making up the stories and were encouraged to seek revenge by the support group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

''As a juror you just have to use your common sense,'' the female juror said. ''Would all these men get on that stand and testify in embarrassing detail about all that stuff and make it up?''

First Assistant District Attorney Paul Caccaviello said his office was grateful for the verdict.

''The real heros here are these men who one by one came forward and testified after many years of keeping quiet,'' said Caccaviello, who talked to the victims privately following the verdicts. ''Right now there is a range of emotions they are going through and it amounts to some closure for them. This is a very difficult issue for them to deal with.''

Mercure was permanently removed from priestly duties in 2008 after the allegations surfaced but has yet to be laicized, or completely dismissed from the priesthood.Mercure can either voluntarily ask to be laicized or Bishop Howard Hubbard could request it of the Vatican, which has to make the final decision, Goldfarb said.

Goldfarb said Hubbard has yet to do that but it is under consideration by the diocese.

''It is not something that would automatically happen with this verdict,'' Goldfarb said.

Mercure is not still paid by the diocese but gets pension payments for his 34 years as a priest. He is not provided housing by the church and no diocesan funds went to his defense, Goldfarb said.

Goldfarb said the church first heard about Mercure's sexual activities in 1994 when a Queensbury man came forward saying he was in an adult sexual relationship with Mercure.

''Mercure was disciplined at that time,'' Goldfarb said.

Mark Lyman, SNAP Capital Region Director, alleged that the diocese knew for years about Mercure's activities but moved him from church to church to cover it up.

Goldfarb on Thursday denied that allegation.

The diocese provided a list of parishes where Mercure served between 1974 and 2008. He requested and was granted a health sabbatical from 1995-96, the diocese said.

Lyman said his organization learned that after the 1994 allegations surfaced, the diocese sent Mercure for counseling to a location in Pennsylvania that year.

Warren County officials investigated Mercure after the diocese in 2008 shared allegations of abuse, but couldn't prosecute him because of New York's statute of limitations. But the victims told authorities they also were attacked in Massachusetts and that state had a longer statute of limitations, allowing prosecutors to charge Mercure.

In his closing arguments, Caccaviello told jurors that Mercure won the trust of his victims' families and threatened the boys to keep them quiet.